Serendipity
by LoganAlpha30
Summary: Set after the 5th book, starts out with RonFleur but will end up RonHermione, with many twists and turns along the way, hopefully some unexpected, some HarryGinny to. Ch. 7 Now Up!
1. Default Chapter

**SERENDIPITY**

**Disclosure:  As easily seen I don't own any of these characters.**

**Authors Note:  This story starts out with Ron/Fleur but will become Ron/Hermione and stay that way, some Harry/Ginny on the side as well.  Questions will be answered as the story goes on.**

**CHAPTER 1-CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES**

To the outside world everything was completely and totally normal within the walls of number four, Privet Drive.  And that was exactly how Mr. and Mrs. Dursley wanted it thank you very much.  For it would horrify them to no end if someone were to ever find out that the stray nephew that they had taken in as a babe was in fact, a wizard.  Over the past five years there had been many a close call on the subject of the youngest occupant of the Dursley household.  While he was barely glimpsed outside of doing chores or being quickly herded back inside the house everyone in the neighborhood knew about him but Mr. Dursley kept up a strict policy where he was not to venture outside without either he or Mrs. Dursley there with him.  And seeing as how Mr. Dursley rarely went outside to do anything but go to work or take his more than spoiled son Dudley out for one special surprise dinner after another, which lead to the boy shaping up to be the mirror image of his father.  Like his father Dudley Dursley had become a rather plump young man, with seemingly no neck to speak of and a matt of originally blond but now fading to a dingy brown hair on the top of his head.  To his parents Dudley was everything that they hoped him to be. He had even followed in Mr. Dursley's footsteps by attending the very same boarding school that he had as a young man.  The summer that was now fading fast had been a blissful one for Dudley, regaining the domain of control and fear that he had obtained around the town before leaving for school, and sneaking in as many sweets as he could underneath Mrs. Dursley's nose.

But for the mostly secret child of number four Privet Drive the summer could be easily described in one simple word, hell.  No amount of neglect or mistreatment cast his way from neither the Dursley's nor the lack of letters from his two best friends could possibly amount to the depths that he had sunken to.  Sirius Black, quite possibly the most famous escapee of Azkaban prison, was now gone forever thanks in no small part to a hurried act on Harry's part.  Harry had taken a collection of his friends from the safe confines of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and had traveled on the backs of thestrals and flown away to the Ministry of Magic on what they had thought what a rescue mission.  Harry sneered bitterly as he surmised that it turned out to be more of a suicide mission.  While it was true that none of them had died there that fact did little to rid Harry of his melancholy. 

Ronald Weasley was quite pleased with himself, quite pleased indeed.  Lying back into his pillow he twirled several silvery-blonde strands of hair around through his fingers for a bit before he pulled them close and inhaled deeply.  The scent of his mother's prized flowerbed soon registered in his mind as he clearly remembered the hours it had taken his mother to place the proper charms onto the flowers to mix their scents properly into the shampoo.  When a family, as the Weasley's were, not particularly well off financially they had to cut corners where they could.

"Ron…," A sleepy honey dipped voice asked softly as Ron felt her fingertips doing a tap-dance up from his bellybutton towards his chin.

"Yeah," Ron replied softly as he gazed down into her large, deep blue eyes, and lightly brushed the back of his hand against her smooth cheek.

"Why are you sad," Fleur asked, her brows knitting together in concern, before she leaned in closer and placed a gentle, tickling kiss on his chest over his heart.

"The summer's almost over and…," Ron answered as he impatiently tried to get an answer out that could hope to explain his mess of emotions. 

The summer had started off poorly and until she had arrived Ron had thought that this was going to be the worst summer of his entire life.  Harry had been less than enthusiastic in his letters and didn't seem to have much interest in visiting the burrow over the summer.  Hermione had explained to him that she was going to spend the summer in Bulgaria with Viktor Krum, the one young man that she knew Ron hated more than any other.  As the days turned into weeks he started to receive glowing letter after letter saying how much fun she was having.  Ron was about to dive back into his bed and hide under the covers for the rest of his life when there had been a knock on his door.  Reluctantly he had sulked over to the door and tore it open, fully prepared to give whoever it was on the other side an earful.  But his words and his breath had caught in his throat at the sight of the nervous and awkwardly smiling half veela young woman that he had last seen in his fourth year at Hogwarts, Fleur Delacour.  Ron had gone four completely different shades of purple at the sight of her standing in the hallway just outside of his room before the momentary lull was snapped when the sign that signified his room in the house crashed loudly to the floor in between the two of them.  Ron had been pleased to see that the time since their last meeting had done her well.  His heart very nearly leapt out of his chest in excitement at the change in her and the fact that she was standing just outside of his room before she smiled politely and blushed as she asked if she could come in.  He could only mumble something back in reply but it had gotten her to laugh, something that sounded like heaven to Ron, before he stumbled aside to allow her entry.  With his face redder than a bowl of tomato soup Ron had awkwardly given her the grand tour of his room.  She had smiled politely and noticed that although it wasn't nearly as large as her room back in France, in fact it was more about the size of a quarter of her closet, that it still felt almost more like home than her own most of the time.

"You've barely 'eard from Harry…I know it troubles you," Fleur said softly as she correctly guessed the cause of Ron's melancholy before she leaned in and placed a comforting kiss on Ron's lips.

"Yeah…he hasn't said much more than a few hope you're having a good summer and see you next year wishes but…," Ron replied bitterly with a forlorn pout on his face as he turned his head and looked out of the small window in his room before Fleur leant back down and began to place a trail of kisses up from his collarbone to his ear, pausing in between to offer her reassurances.

"He's been through a lot…you all 'ave, haz Hermione written back yet," Fleur added with a sincere look of concern on her face before Ron turned his head back and stared sadly into her ocean blue eyes and scowled.

"Of course…she spent three whole pages telling me that she's bloody well having the time of her life with Vicky…you know she never once asked how I was doing or how Ginny was doing or whether or not my scars hurt or if I had heard from Harry…," Ron replied with an angry and impatient scowl on his face as he balled his hands up into fists and tried to keep his anger under control.  At the mention of his scars Fleur gracefully pulled one forearm up closer to her and gently began to kiss any scar that she could see, hoping to alleviate at least some of his anger and anxiety over his best friends repeated glowing letters about her stay in Bulgaria with a young man that Fleur knew Ron hated with an almost all consuming passion that poorly hid his jealousy.

"It vill be alright Ronald, you will see…but for me I am feeling a bit in need of some food if I am to 'elp your mother with the garden this afternoon, care to join me in ze kitchen," Fleur stated with a lazy drawl as she slowly and reluctantly sat up in bed and let the sheet drop down to her waist.

"Maybe in a bit…," Ron muttered softly as he let his words trail off before he felt Fleur slip out of the bed and softly pad across the room before staring at her reflection in the full length mirror that Fred and George had gotten him because in their words it might help him not look so disheveled all of the time.  Had he thought about it more Ron might have guessed that in their own way the twins were trying to help their little brother out with his appearance in the hopes that his romantic life wouldn't be as dismal as his studies often tended to be.

"Fine…but if your food gets cold don't come crying to me…," Fleur replied with an impatient scowl on her face as she ruffled up her hair a bit and pulled on a button up and long sleeved denim shirt that he had received from Percy as a get well gift.  Ron had almost immediately tried to throw the present out but Fleur had been there quickly enough and had scolded him that he should not act in such a way even though the rift between brothers had only grown since the events in the Ministry that lead to the death of Sirius Black.  For his part Ron had to agree that as he watched Fleur clumsily button up the shirt, missing a button here and there partially due to the fact that her small hands only managed to come to the mid-forearm of the shirt she had to keep pushing the sleeves back up every other attempt.  From his position in bed Ron, as much as he tried to continue his brooding by staring out of the window, couldn't help but appraise the sight before him across the room.  In her attempts to button up the shirt Fleur had hoisted the bottom of the shirt up just enough to expose one of her better assets, at least to Ron.  He was so intent at staring at this particular feature of hers that he could only mutter a subdued "yeah" when she informed him that she was going downstairs and left the room.

Ron let out a tremendous sigh as he flopped his head back down onto his pillow and stared at his oddly orange room, decorated with moving posters of his favorite Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons.  He watched lazily as the players dove and banked, often happily waving at him before zooming off again to resume their usual track around the poster.  Ron flung his head away from the window and listened to the normal sounds of the burrow, the slight creaking as the patchwork house swayed ever so slightly to the breeze accompanied by the slow and steady drip of the faucet in the nearby bathroom that his father had yet to fix.  Finally finding himself unable to simply lie there with the blanket down around his knees, and oddly feeling that the position that he was in was not one that he wanted anyone other than perhaps Fleur or for a fleeting moment Hermione to see him in Ron groaned as he sat up and looked around for his pants.

He left his old room slowly, more stumbling really as he had to focus much more than usual on zipping up his pants while trying to keep from running into the next wall.  He clomped loudly down the steps and was stunned into silence at what he saw in the kitchen.  At the stink stood quite simply a vision of beauty in Ron's mind, with golden and silver ringlets cascading down over her ears and down her back, stood Fleur, trying failingly to stand up on her tiptoes to reach a glass up high in the cupboard while being brilliantly illuminated and given an almost angelic halo by the early morning sun that beamed in through the adjacent window.  The situation would have stayed the same had Ron not crossed his arms, a wide smile splayed wide across his face, before he leaned up against the wall and let out a half snort that resembled a chuckle.

"Vat…are you just going to stand there and admire my derriere or are you going to come and 'elp me get this glass," Fleur exclaimed with an angry pout on her face, scrunching up her eyebrows and forehead in such a way that Ron could help but keep smiling, as she half turned her head back towards him.

"Yeah alright…here let me get that for you," Ron chuckled out with a somewhat more relieved smile on his face as he made his way across the kitchen and reached up and took a hold of the glass, suddenly very glad that he was tall.  Ron handed her the glass and Fleur smiled her little saintly smile and bowed every so slightly before silently making her way over to the sink and filling the glass. 

"Thank you…my 'andsome prince," Fleur said with a mock salute before she turned to look out the window and gave a small yelp when Ron strolled up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him as he bent his head down and began to nibble on her ear.  Almost instantly Fleur seemed to forget that she was holding a glass and very nearly broke it when she let if fumble out of her hands and into the sink before she tilted her head back and to one side as to allow Ron to plant a flurry of slow and inhibition draining kisses up and down her neck.  Fleur let out a small moan of pleasure as she bit her bottom lip forcefully to keep from crying out in ecstasy as Ron's hands began to slither up and down her body, slipping in under the shirt and trailing a line down her stomach with one of his hands while the other was beginning to pull the hem of the shirt up past the lower curve of her rump and was at the small of her back when both were shocked nearly to death by the angry words that rang out through the burrows kitchen.

"That's far enough…I swear I leave you two alone for five minutes and you can't help but…when I swore that I'd keep your relationship a secret I didn't think that I was giving you free reign throughout the burrow," Lupin shouted angrily as he stomped his foot down onto the ground and glared at the two young lovers as they leapt apart, with Ron averting his eyes to the stares and Fleur casting her gaze down at her feet, both blushing more brilliantly crimson than even the sun.  Beside the old Marauder Tonks stood straining to keep a fit of giggles to herself, her hair almost a mirror image of how Ginny's had been before she had cut it short, mainly to keep it from getting dirty as she helped her mother clean up Sirius Black's old house in London.

While it was true that Hermione had gone to Bulgaria to spend the summer with Viktor Krum, something that she knew that Ron hated immensely, she had lied to Ron in almost every single one of her letters.  She had arrived in Bulgaria fully intending to stay the entire summer, but after only a few weeks of drudgery that she had tried to not let show she had let her frustrations out and informed Viktor that even though she was thankful for his hospitality she didn't feel like staying there any longer.  Hiding his hurt poorly Viktor had not become angry and helped her pack before she made her way home.  Ever since she had been simply to embarrassed to admit to either Ron or Harry that she had gone home, instead continuously sending them both glowing letters full of lies about her stay in Bulgaria.  She knew that her words would hurt Ron the most and more than once she had cried herself to sleep over the matter but to her credit Ron had always acted rather jealously every time Krum's name had come up in conversation.  Over the rest of the summer up until she would make her journey to the burrow to spend the last remaining weeks before school with her two best friends Hermione had spent most of her time split between completing the summer homework that they had been given and trying desperately to figure out a way to break the news to Ron that she had discovered sometime after seeing Fleur Delacour kiss first Harry and then Ron after the second trial almost three years earlier that she was in love with one of her best friends, Ronald Weasley. 

She had begun the letter dozens of times, with each one asking Ron to forgive her for continuing to send letters that gave him the false impression that she was happily spending the summer in Bulgaria with Viktor Krum and not at home in a rightly poor state of her mood as of late. She had even tried to write to Harry even though she had yet to get a response from him about her last letter that she had sent him.  In the end she would only manage to write a few lines before she'd turn back and slam her pen down onto the desk and crumple up the paper and heave it into the trash can.  The would come the tears, tears that would almost consume her before her chest would burn from the injury that she had received from one of Voldemort's Death Eaters in the Ministry of Magic.  She had been knocked out after that and had only heard about what had come next, mainly that of the death of Sirius Black.  The attack had brought with it a milky white and barely visible scar that stretched from her shoulder down just past her bellybutton.  She had done her best to hide the scar even though in truth if most got a chance to see it they would think that it were perhaps a trick of light.  But to Hermione the scar tore across her body like the Grand Canyon, making her hideous and ugly to look at.

On the last full day before she'd join Harry, who would arrive at the Burrow a few days before her, at the Burrow Hermione had been packing her trunk and setting her newest edition of Hogwarts, A History front and center when she had noticed it.  She had very nearly forgotten about it at first, but as she slowly picked up the small vial she noticed that he liquid inside of it was almost completely gone.  After staring at it for a few seconds she remembered it to be the small vial of perfume that Ron had gotten her for Christmas when everything had still looked bright.  She had completely forgotten that she had begun using the perfume over the summer, as if in some small part to remind herself of Ron.  With an almost girlish smile on her face she finished packing her trunk, lightly dabbed on a few drops of the perfume and placed it in the innermost pocket of her coat and left her room to tell her father that she was ready to go to the Burrow.

END OF CHAPTER 1


	2. Answers and Altercations

**SERENDIPITY**

**Disclosure:  I don't own any of the characters except for the new ones that I will be creating.**

**CHAPTER 2-ANSWERS AND ALTERCATIONS**

Harry trudged up the stairs with a solemn frown cast about his face, not glancing to either side as he went like he usually did on his first day back at the Burrow.  His mood had not improved in the least since leaving number four Privet Drive.  Instead he had been especially moody ever since he had arrived at the Burrow to find the building empty and no sign of Ron or Ginny, except for that the shower was running and whoever was in there was humming happily to themselves.  Solemnly he slipped into Ron's room and sighed dourly at the cot set up on the other side of the room.  He dropped his trunk down on the floor beside the cot with a loud crash before he set a stack of old school books down on top of it and collapsed into the cot, throwing one arm over his face lazily and turning his head to one side.  It was then that he noticed something odd in relation to the rest of the room.  In relation to the rest of the dwelling it stuck out like a more than sore thumb.  From his spot across the room Harry could only make out the color, a bright cherry red.  It looked to be an article of clothing but Harry knew that other than the jumper marked with a gold R on the front that stood for the first letter of his best friends first name that Ron didn't own an article of clothing that was that color.

"Ron…iz zat you," An oddly familiar sweet  honey dipped voiced asked with a repressed giggle before nothing less than a vision of all that was beauty, at least to Harry at that moment, appeared in the doorway to Ron's room, clutching one of Ron's bigger towels and currently trying to dry the area around her chin and neck.

"F…Fleur…what," Harry stammered out through quivering lips as his eyes grew wider than dinner plates before the young woman in question realized who exactly it was lying in the cot and she went nearly as white as Ron's sheets before she tore out of the room and Harry heard the bathroom door slam shut.  Harry stared off into space for several seconds, his mind engaged in a desperate struggle to get his mouth to obey, before he could get his nerves calmed down enough to stand up.  His knees shook violently as he made his way to the door, almost expecting to find Fred and George snickering at the top of the stairs, rightly pleased with themselves for having pulled such an elaborate prank.  But when he got to the doorway Harry was surprised, the twins were not there but instead an out of breath Ron stood leaning up against the wall, his long hair hanging eerily in front of his face liked the curtain that Sirius had disappeared through only weeks earlier.  "Ron…what the bloody…," Harry asked with a confused and still somewhat unbelieving look on his face before Ron lurched fully back up to his feet, grabbed Harry by the shoulder, and pulled him into his room and shut the door behind them.

"I thought that you weren't getting here until later…mom said that…," Ron stammered out through his attempts to fully catch his breath before Harry forcefully kept back a sly smile.

"I came a few hours early so what, I certainly never expected to find Fleur here…without her knickers on or anything…," Harry interrupted with a slightly overwhelmed pout on his face as Ron paced nervously around the room before almost  tripping over his own feet at the mention of Fleur's knickers.

"You didn't…see anything, did you Harry," Ron sputtered out in the form of a question as his ears turned a bright shade of red before Harry allayed his fears.

"Sadly no…but what the hell is she doing here, you two aren't…," Harry muttered sadly to himself at first before he collected his thoughts and stared up at Ron with an almost accusing glint in his eye.

"Good, just visiting…and uh no Harry, Fleur and I aren't…," Ron answered with an overly nervous and uncomfortable smile and chuckle before he sat down at the foot of his bed and tried to keep from looking Harry in the eye.

"Oh yeah, then what's this…," Harry, unconvinced that Ron was telling the whole truth, asked as he leaned down and pulled the bright cherry red article of clothing out from under the sheets of Ron's bed, almost instantly releasing it from his grasp as he discovered that it was a piece of lingerie.  In seconds Ron's the color in Ron's face matched that of the piece of lingerie.

"Fleur's uh…well it's her uh…you know what I mean Harry," Ron babbled out with a very guilty smile on his face before he was interrupted by Fleur reentering the room, still looking like an angel, hair tumbling down her back in shower slickened ringlets that shone like diamonds in the sun, clad in one of Ron's old jumpers and a pair of incredibly short shorts that seemed to have been cut from a well worn pair of Ron's jeans.

"Itz my brassiere, Ronald ripped it off in such a frenzy last night that I thought that I had lost it," Fleur announced with a relieved pout on her face as Ron's face turned even redder, if that were even possible.  Fleur gave Harry a friendly smile and wink before she snatched the bra out of Harry's possession and shoved it into her pocket.

"I knew it…but…how…when…," Harry nearly squealed with delight at first before Fleur rose up onto her tiptoes, placed an enchanting and chaste kiss on Ron's lips and then scuttle back out of his room.

"Shortly after leaving Hogwarts, just showed up on my doorstep she did," Ron tried to explain quickly before words failed him.

"But what about her and Bill, Fred and George said that…," Harry questioned with a confused and unsure frown on his face as he remembered well Ron's older twin brothers telling him about the growing bond between Ron's eldest brother and the half veela young woman that had just kissed Ron.

"Not a bloody clue, she won't say a thing about it, Bill either for that matter, something happened between them, something bad, but neither she nor Bill has said anything about it, she tried to hide it but when she showed up on my doorstep that afternoon she looked well the worse for wear so whatever it was that happened between her and Bill I reckon it wasn't pretty and the last time that I asked her about it she started to cry..," Ron answered, very softly at first before the words began to tumble out, almost as if Ron was finally glad to be telling some aspect of his story to someone other than himself.

"What do your parents think, I can't see how they'd approve of the two of you shagging twenty four seven…," Harry asked with a slightly uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach as he felt as if he really shouldn't be asking any of these questions but as he did so the pain of losing Sirius abated just a smidge. 

"Uh…well uh, you see…well uh Harry…they…well you see Harry…," Ron babbled out quickly as he began to nervously pace around the room and run both hands through his now shoulder length messy red hair.

"They don't know do they…," Harry quipped with a very proud smile on his face as for the moment he believed himself to be the only one that knew this very important secret.

"No, only ze werewolf and ze strange clumsy girl wit the funny hair know about us," Fleur announced with a bored yawn as she reentered the room and beamed at Ron, who smiled sheepishly back.

"Huh…," Harry grunted with a confused and unsure frown on his face as he first looked to Fleur, who had pulled out a small bottle of red nail polish and hopped back onto Ron's bed before she opened the bottle and proceeded to begin to paint her toenails a deep red that almost perfectly matched Ron's crimson jumper.

"Remus…she means Lupin and Tonks, they…well they…," Ron answered as he tried to explain before Fleur glanced up at him through her bangs and frowned.

"They happened upon us just as Ron was about to…," Fleur added softly with a distant and almost sad expression on her face before Harry decided that it was best that he didn't hear Fleur's entire answer.

"So…Fleur, how's Gabrielle," Harry asked, quickly changing the subject to Fleur's younger sister that he had rescued during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament and promptly had been lucky enough to receive kisses on his cheeks from Fleur as a reward.  Ron had received kisses to, even though he had only helped Harry get Gabrielle out of the way, something that Harry remembered had brought an unexpected expression onto Hermione's face.  Harry had seen her angry before, most times when in the middle of a row with Ron about one thing or another, but looking back later he had decided that he had never seen his other best friend as furious as she had been at that moment.  It had taken Harry almost the entire summer to figure out exactly why Hermione had become so angry, even with her date for the Yule Ball, Viktor Krum, sitting right beside her and trying desperately to engage her in conversation.  Harry had suspected that Ron's feelings towards Hermione had proceeded past simple friendship and possibly into his red haired friend fancying her ever since Ron had asked him about the differences between himself and Viktor Krum.

"She iz fine…which reminds me, she vanted me to give you something," Fleur answered with a seemingly relieved smile on her face before she stood up and kissed a nervous Harry twice on each cheek.

"W…well good, I'm glad," Harry stuttered softly with a very flustered smile on his face as he was almost sure that steam was coming out of his ears again before he caught the almost angry look in Ron's gaze.

"You to Ron…ezcept…," Fleur continued, but as she did so she blushed deeply, as she turned back to Ron and placed a fuller and longer kiss on the redhead's lips than Harry could have been expecting.  When she pulled back Ron let out the breath that he had been holding in and matched Fleur blush for blush.

"Right…well I'd better go and…," Ron said as he fumbled through his words before he smiled warmly at Fleur, who returned it with earnest, and stepped out of the room and was heard clomping down the stairs before Harry turned back to Fleur.

"Fleur…this may be a bit to personal of me to ask but…are you and Ron…," Harry stumbled over his words even before they left his lips as he thought that since Ron had gone, and since Fleur seemed much more eager to divulge information than the youngest Weasley son, Harry guessed that he had been presented with a prime opportunity to get down to the truth.  Fleur blushed deeply before answering.

"No…vee are not together…like you think," Fleur replied sadly before she walked over to the window and gazed out.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to…," Harry whispered softly with a guilty feeling rising up from the bottom of his stomach as he turned his head away from Fleur at the window.

"Itz okay Harry, Ron haz helped me through a rough summer, he was there for me when I needed a friend…and things got a little…," Fleur added with a polite smile on her face, as she turned away from the window briefly, before she hung her head and stared down at her freshly painted toenails.

"I get the picture," Harry quickly interjected, throwing his hands up defensively for a bit before he continued, "This is all just a bit strange though, I came here expecting to find everyone enjoying the summer and…."

"And instead you found Ronald and I 'ere like this," Fleur interrupted with a somewhat guilty frown on her face before she blushed deeply and turned her attention back to the window.

"Yeah, something like that, but Fleur, I'm not angry about it, I just thought that," Harry jumped in with quickly as he tried to alleviate some of the half veela girls anxiety.

"That she was here, Hermione…you mean, I know that he loves her," Fleur stated rather sorrowfully as she guessed Harry's train of thought and turned to gaze sadly at the doorway.

"Yeah…but only because last year she beat me to the burrow, wait…did you say that he, loves her," Harry said back as he stumbled over his words, shrinking the gap between himself and Fleur as he took a few steps towards her, before he saw Fleur nod her head and swallow before speaking.

"More than he knows, but he's scared…terrified, that she doesn't feel the same for 'im, I think that I've helped him through this summer just about as much as he's helped me…," Fleur answered with a sad but yet honest expression on her face as he turned fully to look at Harry before she was interrupted by an excited shriek from the doorway.

"Harry," Ginny exclaimed with a very happy grin on her face before she rushed into the room and flung herself onto Harry, enveloping Harry in a very tight hug.

"Ginny…nice to see, you to," Harry stuttered out as Ginny continued to seemingly squeeze him for everything that she was worth.

"When did you get here, you should have said something, you…wait, everything okay," Ginny asked quickly after she let go of Harry and took a step back, finally letting her gaze fall onto a nervous and somewhat scared looking Fleur.

"A few minutes ago, thought I'd surprise you…all, yeah everything's fine Ginny, Fleur was just…," Harry quickly said back with a guilty smile on his face as he tried to keep from blushing as he inwardly cursed himself after having noticed that his gaze was hungrily taking in everything about Ginny.

"About ready to leave, and I hate saying goodbye so that's why I waz sad," Fleur quickly interjected with a forced smile on her face before she nodded politely to Ginny and nervously walked out of the room, catching Ron just as he was about to walk back in and pulling him down the stairs after her.  As Ginny half turned to watch Fleur hurry out of the room and drag her older brother behind her Harry surprisingly had to bite his bottom lip and summon up all of his willpower to tear his gaze away from the sight in front of him.  When she had rushed in Harry had been too surprised to notice that Ginny had been dressed in almost the same manner as Fleur, except that her shorts were a little bit longer and she wore a shirt that looked to be straining at the seams.

"Honestly if I didn't know better I'd think that there was something going on between those two…Harry," Ginny started to mutter under her breath with an odd frown on her face before she turned back around and caught Harry staring at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"N…nothing, just…nothing," Harry stammered out as his green eyes twinkled brightly before he blushed nearly as deeply as Ron and turned away, catching Ginny snickering at him through his bangs.

"Okay Harry, I'll let you off the hook…this time, so uh…are you still banned from Quidditch or do I have to be seeker again this year," Ginny slowly asked with a slightly confused and odd smile on her face before she stepped forward and looped her arm around Harry's and led him out of the room, just as a the sound of someone leaving via floo powder was heard from downstairs.

"I…I don't know, I really hadn't given it much thought," Harry stammered out quickly as he couldn't help but blush at how close Ginny was to him.  He didn't completely understand what was happening to him.  When he had fallen hard for Cho it hadn't been anything like this.  That thought startled and confused him as he wasn't sure if he was, or wanted to, fall for any girl, let alone his best friend's little sister who currently had a boyfriend, at the moment.  He was saved from his inner turmoil by a familiar voice from downstairs.

"Ron," Hermione shouted with a happy and relieved smile on her face as she stepped out of the fireplace, set her trunk and Crookshanks down, and stood in front of him for a moment before she pulled him into a tight hug, one that she was glad to find being returned in kind.

"Hermione, I'm…glad you're here," Ron choked out with a very nervous smile on his face as he held her close a bit longer than he guessed that she would allow him to before he started to let her go.

"Me to, have you heard from Harry," Hermione said as she smiled up at Ron for a moment before she set her hips, crossed her arms, cocked an eyebrow in an oddly inquisitive way, and pursed her lips.

"Yeah…actually he's…hey don't give me that look," Ron started to answer softly before he noticed how she was looking at him and demanded an answer.

"What look," Hermione asked, acting as if she hadn't the faintest idea in the world what Ron was talking about even though she knew full well the look that he was inquiring about, softly with an almost impish smile on her face before Ron rudely interrupted.

"Bet Vicky likes that look," Ron interjected with a scornful scowl on his face as he spat out the name of the slightly older man that to a great degree he alone viewed as a rival for Hermione's affections.

"Ron please, don't start this again…and for the record his name is Viktor, why do you…," Hermione stated slowly and with a forced calm to her voice as the smile faded instantly from her face.

"Because you're always writing extra…long letters to him, you're always defending him, more so than me, who knows you two probably had a lot of time snuggling by the fire in that bloody castle of his," Ron exclaimed as even from their position at halfway down the stairs Harry and Ginny could tell that Ron was building a full head of steam to enter into an argument that could go down in the history books.

"Ronald Weasley…I can't believe that you…what do you care if I write him letters, at least he doesn't yell at me day in and day out over the dumbest things imaginable, at least he's nice to me…," Hermione countered with now a steadily growing scowl of anger on her own face as she poked Ron in the chest with the index finger of her left hand.

"He's only nice to you because he wants to…," Was all that Ron got, as he brushed Hermione's hand away from his chest, out before Hermione did something that caught everyone completely by surprise.  In an instantaneous explosion of anger Hermione reared back and slapped Ron as hard as she could across the face, forgetting that she was wearing one of her mothers old rings, one that was a bit to big for her and liked to slip around so that the side with the rough edges pointed in towards her palm, opening up a nasty looking cut over Ron's left eye.  For a few eerie moments the world and everything in it stood still.  In shock Ron let go of Hermione's left hand with his eyes growing wide until a small dribble of blood slipped down into his left eye, causing him to hiss in pain and hurriedly slam that eye shut.

"Ron…RON," Hermione stuttered out through almost numb lips before she started to apologize for her hasty action, but it was to late, with a final heartbroken and furious glare her way Ron pushed by her and stormed out of the house, right into the first light sprinkles of what would become a torrential downpour.  All Hermione could do was scream his name in the hope that he would stop before the terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach doubled in size as Ron continued to force his way through the storm.

"No…Hermione wait," Harry shouted with a very worried and unsure look on his face as he rushed into the living room and took a hold of Hermione by her shoulders, keeping her in the living room.

"Let me go Harry…I have to talk to him, I have to…," Hermione said with an impatient and pleading tone to her voice as she struggled against Harry's hold, all the while keeping her gaze locked onto the slowly disappearing figure of Ron before he slipped out of sight around an old tree.

"I'll talk to him Hermione, if you tried to talk to him right now the two of you would probably end up killing each other…you stay here, don't worry I'll make sure to get him back before the storm gets to bad…Ginny," Harry explained in a very clear and commanding tone to Hermione before she seemed to settle down a bit and nod her head in sad understanding.  "Just keep her here until I get back with Ron, and for the love of Merlin whatever you do don't tell her that Ron and Fleur were shagging all summer long," Harry added under his breath to Ginny after pulling her off to the side, never noticing when at the end of his orders Ginny furrowed her brows in confusion for a few seconds before her eyes grew extremely wide and she gasped in shock.  Before Ginny could get a word in edgewise Harry leaned in, gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek, and took off out of the house after Ron.  For what seemed like an eternity the two young women stood in silence, each staring out of the burrow's main door, trying desperately to come to terms with what had just happened.  A few minutes later it was Hermione that broke the silence.

"Fleur was here…," Hermione asked very softly with a surprised and worried look on her face as her voice faltered a bit as Ginny was saddened to see a few tears begin to stream down Hermione's cheeks. 

"Y…yeah, all summer…," Ginny managed to get out in reply before Hermione spun on her heel and tore up the stares, tears cascading down her cheeks.

"Hermione wait…bloody hell…," Ginny shouted sorrowfully at Hermione's retreating form before she cursed out loud and tore off in hot pursuit.

END OF CHAPTER 2


	3. It All Comes Out In The WashI Hope

**SERENDIPITY**

**Disclaimer:  I don't own any of the characters except for the new ones that I created.**

**CHAPTER 3-IT ALL COMES OUT IN THE ****WASH****-I HOPE**

Harry hadn't realized until that very moment, as he was racing as fast as he could away from the burrow, how much Ron had grown and with that his ability to take longer strides.  As he ran Harry noticed that the few stray droplets that had first begun to fall upon his leaving the burrow had now turned into a slight drizzle, wetting him to the bone almost as well as the sweat that built up as he tried to catch up to his best friend.  When Harry finally located Ron his legs ached from the pace that he had taken through the underbrush.  He found Ron in a hollow of sorts, with a large uprooted tree at one end and an almost natural coliseum in miniature with a large rock at the other end.  Ron stood at one end near the roots of the uprooted tree, again and again punching it with his right fist.

"Ron," Harry exclaimed in between huffs of breath as his lungs burned from the effort before he was finally able to slide down the side of the depression and keep from landing in what looked like a pit of mud.

"Don't say it Harry…just don't say it," Ron called back quickly to Harry even though he kept his gaze firmly locked onto the tree in front of him, seemingly determined to keep punching and punching until either the tree or his hand broke, whichever came first.

"Say what Ron…," Harry asked, confused to a point at what exactly was happening in front of him coupled with Ron's current state of mind.

"That I'm the biggest git in the bloody world and now Hermione will probably never speak to me again…face it mate…she hates me," Ron replied with a nervous and somewhat schizophrenic tone to his voice as he half turned around and Harry caught site of a deranged smile on his face.

"Ron…Ron stop, I mean it…stop," Harry cried out with a scared feeling in the pit of his stomach as he lurched forward and was soon forced to summon up every single ounce of strength left in his body to pull and drag Ron away from the tree.  When he was finally able to get Ron far enough away from the tree Harry's breath caught in his throat as he looked down at Ron's right hand.  Each and every knuckle seemed to be split completely open, blood running down his fingers before dripping off of each fingertip onto the wet grass below.  "Bloody hell…," Harry mumbled in awe and worry as he stared for a moment at Ron's condition before Ron's empty voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Why Harry, what good will it do…after how I was to her in there she'll never want to listen to a single word I have to say…I was so stupid…bloody…," Ron interjected with an abrupt scowl on his face before he spun around on his heel and was about to slam his fist back into the rock as hard as he could when a sound from above caught him off guard.

"Well what do we have here…the famous Harry Potter and his muggle loving best friend…," A mocking voice snickered from a perch on top of the rock before Ron and Harry stumbled frantically away from the boulder as fast as they could through the mud, with Ron finally realizing how badly injured his right hand was as it slipped out from under him and he went down hard face first into the mud.

"Ron," Harry cried with a frantic look of shock on his face as he reached out and maniacally began to drag and pull Ron back away from the boulder just as three figures silently floated down from the boulder.  Ron's breath caught in his throat as his gaze fell onto the forms of those that were now only feet away, aiming their wands directly at he and Harry.  Ron didn't have to hear them speak to know full well who they were.  Stalking towards them, with hideous masking covering their twisted grins of glee, was Lucius Malfoy and two other Death Eaters.  Almost to the point of passing out Ron fumbled through his pockets in search of his wand, only to late coming to the realization that he had left it back in his room, with Harry's lying comfortably on the cot on the other side of the room.

"Fleur was here all summer," Hermione asked, her voice full of concern and worry, as she paced around the living room, almost in a dreamlike state.

"Y…yeah, she kind of just showed up one morning looking like death warmed over, she wouldn't tell us why she was here…only that whenever anyone brought up Bill's name she'd start to cry," Ginny replied cautiously, hoping that her words wouldn't prompt Hermione to fly off into the beginnings of a row like the ones that she regularly had with Ron, often over the most trivial of matters.

"But I thought that she and Bill, well the twins said that…," Hermione mumbled back softly as he brain was working furiously at that moment and the words were getting pretty jumbled up in her head. Ginny nodded her head in agreement for a few seconds before answering.

"For months all that we got from Bill was one glowing letter after another about how much fun he was having working for Gringotts and helping Fleur with her English, but ever since Fleur showed up on our doorstep we haven't heard anything from Bill, except that he's gone back to Egypt and doesn't want to talk about it," Ginny answered sadly as she tried to hold back the tears at the memory of the look on her mothers face as she had read Bill's letter explaining it all only weeks before.

"But why come here…I mean Fleur only barely knows Bill, she met Ron and Harry only briefly two years ago during the Triwizard Tournament, why would she come here," Hermione openly pondered as she impatiently wiped away a couple of tears and pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table.

"I'm not sure, Bill probably talked her ear off about the burrow so when she left Gringotts she probably could only think to come here…Ron could tell you more though, those two spent most of the summer together, after every one of your letters from Bulgaria he'd start to throw a fit but Fleur would drag him back up to his room and shut the door behind them and put a locking and silencing charm on it, we wouldn't see either again for a few hours, but Ron would always have calmed down when we saw him again, actually now that you mention it he'd look a little to smug for his own good…if you know what I mean," Ginny answered softly with a sincere smile on her face before she realized how much she had said and blushed deeply, a Weasley family trait, before turning away and fixing her gaze on a point on the far wall.

"If I know what…," Hermione mumbled softly before her eyes grew wider than Ron's had when he had opened the door and saw Fleur standing there.  Before Ginny could say anything more Hermione's eyes shrunk in anger and she nearly flung the chair across the room in anger as she bolted back up to her feet and began to storm out of the burrow.

"Wait, Hermione what do you…oh no…Hermione," Ginny began to question with a confused look on her face before her eyes wide in shock and surprise she realized what conclusion Hermione had come to and started to race out of the burrow after her, only to stop suddenly right at the door by a loud popping sound as Lupin and Tonks apparated to the burrow, materializing in the doorway, with Tonks looking over her shoulder, her hair a deep red and waist length, while Lupin gazed down and intently began to study the youngest member of the Weasley family.

"Is something wrong Ginny," Lupin asked with a concerned expression on his face as he started to kneel down before Tonks jumped in.

"Uh…guys, not to break up the happy little q and a session that you two are having but where's Hermione going in such a huff, it's going to be a full blown gale out there in a few minutes, shouldn't she be upstairs trying to get Ron and Harry to actually study for once," Tonks interjected with a confused and concerned frown on her face as she turned back to face Lupin and Ginny.

"She's going to throttle Ron if we don't hurry, Ron and Hermione had an epic row before he stormed out with Harry hot on his heels…but," Ginny began with an almost frantic pace before at the mention of Harry's whereabouts Lupin turned instantly pale and glanced almost painfully back out into the rain before returning to look down at Ginny.  "But before he left Harry said something stupid…he said that Ron and Fleur had been…well you know…all summer…but it's not true, right," Ginny stammered out her question, hoping that Lupin and Tonks would be able to shed some more light on the matter or if nothing else disprove her fears that Harry had only added to and her earlier feelings about what Fleur and Ron had been doing up in his rooms all of those times.  But her hopes were all but crushed when Lupin swallowed hard and looked very uncomfortable all of a sudden and Tonks flushed almost as deeply red as Ginny had only moments before.  "But that…that would mean that…that they…ew…," Ginny nearly whispered out in disbelief as she took a couple of steps back before she scrunched her face up in disgust and angrily shook her head.

"Sorry I didn't tell you Ginny, but we swore that we wouldn't tell anyone about them…," Tonks began softly to try to placate her almost mirror image in miniature before Ginny did the unexpected and angrily forced her way between the two, taking off in a dead sprint out of the burrow and after Hermione, with a declaration hanging in the wind behind her, "I'm going to kill that bloody git!"

Truth be told Hermione wasn't exactly positive where she was going, only that she was being driven forward on almost pure anger at Ron.  As she went she began to dream up possible horrible things to do to Ron when she found him on top of exactly what she would say to him.  She fully expected to give him the tongue lashing of a lifetime before finally letting him have it with one stunning spell or another.  "How could he…with Fleur," Her almost fully heartbroken mind kept screaming over and over again before she was forced to stop and bend over a bit in an effort to try to catch her breath, her lungs burning from the effort.  Even her scar was giving her fits at that moment.  After panting heavily for a few moments she straightened back up and continued to run in the direction that she had last seen Harry running.  To her credit she hadn't been at the burrow long enough to lay her wand down anywhere and so she very nearly pulled a muscle in her haste to arm herself in preparation to confront Ron.  She had just passed through a creek, getting her shoes and socks accidentally completely soaked, and through the first line of trees when she heard the first of many very loud cracking sounds.  Only half glancing up she nearly tripped over her own feet when to her at first confusion and then later horror at the sight of first one and then many trees exploding into an enormous shower of splinters that rained down the ground below.

For a few fleeting moments Hermione stood frozen in shock at the sight being unveiled in front of her.  Her clouded memory furiously stormed through every single spell that she could think of that would be causing that type of destruction and why it would be used, and so close to the burrow of all places. Hesitantly she began to take a few awkward steps forward before something caught her eye in the distance.  At first she thought that she had merely been mistaken at what she thought that she saw, but a second later there was no mistake.  Out of a thick row of bushes tore two figures, with the one in front limping badly, acting as if the devil himself were behind them.  The two figures did their best to scramble across the open field, heading directly for where Hermione was standing, acting as if they did not see her.  As they grew closer Hermione's heart skipped a beat at the sight of Ron hobbling forward as fast as he could with Harry behind him, seemingly pushing him along in a blind panic.  "Harry what…," Hermione began to demand with a furious scowl on her face before there was an explosion that ripped apart the line of bushes that Harry and Ron had only just previously tore out of.

"Run…," Harry exclaimed with as frantic of a look of sheer terror on his face as Hermione had ever seen before Ron's hand snaked out and grabbed her by the arm.

"Harry what…Ron let go of my…," Hermione protested angrily with a firm scowl on her face before the reasons that Ron and Harry were in such a panic became infinitely visible as three figures popped into being out of thin air a mere twenty feet from where Ron was valiantly struggling to drag Hermione after him while hobbling painfully on his wounded leg.  Hermione very nearly choked on her own words before she abruptly quit her protests and spun on her heel and slipped an arm around Ron's waist as the two then staggered together away from their pursuers.

"Leaving so soon you filthy mudblood," Lucius shouted with a sinister sneer on his face behind the vile Death Eater mask before he whipped out his wand and aimed it directly into the middle of Ron's back.  Time almost seemed to stand infinitely still to Hermione as she could tell that behind the mask Lucius Malfoy was in the midst of casting a spell, most likely a killing curse.

"Ron look…," Hermione started to shout with a terrified look of panic on her face before a bright light shot out of the end of Lucius' wand and flew like a bolt of lightning towards them.  In that instant time and reality themselves seemed to stop following their normal rules and operate independently of each other, at least that was how Hermione would explain the events that happened next over the years.  Not being able to watch the outcome Hermione closed her eyes and spun into Ron, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and throwing herself to the ground, hoping to pull Ron down with her and avoid the curse altogether.  But the slippery ground, and Ron's sudden jerk to one side at her sudden action, did little good but make sure that the curse hit Ron square in the back.  The last thing that Hermione remembered before blacking out was a searing pain and the high scream of someone in extreme pain.

"I don't understand it, they should both be dead, I heard Lucius say the words myself, it was a killing curse…I just don't understand it," Lupin announced with an irritated, scared, somewhat relieved, and nervous scowl on his face as he paced back and forth in the Weasley's kitchen.

"You sure you heard him right Lupin, I mean I was there to…and he did have that ugly as dirt mask on…maybe you heard wrong," Tonks offered up with an optimistic but weak smile on her face as she pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and sat down backwards on it, resting her chin on the top of the back of the chair.

"I'm sure that he heard correctly Tonks, but we should really discuss all of this later, Fudge has dispatched several Aurors to stand guard around the clock here at the burrow, I assure you we are all quite safe for the time being," Dumbledore said softly with a tired look on his face before he stopped and pushed his half moon spectacles back up his nose and turned to watch Hagrid stoke the fire in the hearth up a bit more, much to a shivering Ginny's delight.

"Are you sure Albus, this is most troubling news, if they dare to attack this brazenly then…," McGonagall uttered with a nervous twitching of her upper lip before she picked her tea cup up off of the table and took a shaky sip.

"Then what horrors will they dare to enact next…I do not know, and that is what troubles me most, the unknown," Dumbledore interrupted with a deep in though frown on his face as he continued to watch Ginny shiver from afar.

"Yeah…w…well, they can just go to hell, the whole bloody lot of…," Ginny began to exclaim with a very angry scowl on her face before her mother stepped in. 

"Ginerva Weasley…," Mrs. Weasley screeched loudly as she stormed into the living room and glared down at her one and only daughter, arms crossed and her feet set firmly.

"Sorry mum," Ginny mumbled with a scared smile on her face as she cowered down a bit further into her blanket and looked across the ground floor towards Tonks, who looked about as put out as Ginny felt.

"But none of this explains why Ron and Hermione aren't dead, that curse hit them both, I reckon Harry only got grazed by the spell and that was enough to knock him out cold, but those two…," Lupin interjected with a very worried and confused scowl on his face as he scrunched up his eyebrows in thought and stared up through the burrows ceiling towards the room where Ron and Hermione slept soundly.

"One would assume that it would be quite obvious would it not Remus," Dumbledore stated with a soft chuckle and a wink sent first at McGonagall and then at Lupin.

" 'ere now…what's this all about," Hagrid asked with a confused look on his face as he gently sat down on the couch next to Ginny and threw his coat around her shoulders, almost causing her to disappear completely beneath the garment.

"Hagrid, I believe that what Albus is referring to is the very same reason that allowed one Mr. Harry Potter to survive the killing curse that Voldemort cast upon him," McGonagall answered with a half smirk on her face before Molly spun around on her heel and glared straight across the living room and then the table at McGonagall.

"What reason are you talking about," Molly demanded with a furious scowl on her face as she took a couple of steps forwards towards the kitchen table but stopped when Dumbledore calmly stepped in front of her and politely held up his hands.

"Ye don't mean Albus…not those two, but they row all the bloody time, it's their favorite sport it is, even more so than Quidditch, and that's a bloody crime," Hagrid exclaimed with a sudden look of shock on his face as he very nearly fell off of the couch in shock at the thought of it all.

"Either someone tells me right now what you're all saying about my Ronnie or…," Molly howled with a very angry and stern scowl on her face as she turned back from glaring at Hagrid and Ginny to now focus her glare on Dumbledore.

"Isn't it obvious Molly…," Tonks began with a dreamy smile on her face before she sighed and seemed to fade out into a happy memory.

"Isn't what obvious…Albus, I'm warning you…," Molly countered with a near furious expression on her face as her ears were beginning to turn red and Ginny was about to dive fully under the collar of Hagrid's coat when Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"Settle down Molly, the secret that has eluded you and our esteemed Mr. Remus Lupin is that it appears with quite the amount of certainty and clarity that our young Mr. Ronald Weasley and Ms. Hermione Granger…are in love," Dumbledore recited, as if by memory, as he calmly and politely smiled over at Molly, all the while his eyes twinkling like newborn stars.

END OF CHAPTER 3


	4. Fireside Chats

**SERENDIPITY**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I've created.**

**CHAPTER 4-FIRESIDE CHATS**

"So what are we going to tell them then, Hermione's a clever enough witch to figure out that they should both be dead, and knowing her she won't stop until she's figured out why they're not," Remus asked with an impatient and concerned frown on his face as he stifled back a rather large yawn and plopped down on the couch next to Ginny.

"We won't tell them anything…for now anyway, when it comes to something so delicate and beautiful as love I'm afraid that it's best to let it run its course," Dumbledore replied with a kind smile on his face as he smoothed out a ruffle in his beard and stared off into the fire in the hearth.

"But Ms. Granger won't stop at that Albus, if we tell her nothing at all then she could very well become suspicious of us," McGonagall asked with a worried expression on her face as the teacup in her hands trembled a bit.

"And even though Ron's about as dense as an oak even he'll see before long that we're keeping something from them, and given the Weasley's temper…," Tonks interjected with an almost scared look on her face as she scrunched down noticeably in her chair at Mrs. Weasley's glare.

"We're all well aware of the Weasley temper Nymphadora, but now is not the time or place to discuss it at its proper breadth," Dumbledore replied with a small and tired yawn as he turned away from the fire and fixed his gaze pointedly at Tonks as she began to angrily rise from her chair, a rebuttal quickly forming on her lips.

"Easy Tonks…," Remus muttered forcefully under his breath with a stern glare cast across the living room.

"Are you saying that I'm going to have to lie to Ron and Hermione…even Harry," Ginny asked, seemingly more than a bit scared at the idea, as she pushed her way back up out of the folds of Hagrid's coat and looked directly at Dumbledore.

"I'm afraid so Ginny, at least for the time being, hopefully before long Ronald and Hermione will figure it out for themselves and all will be well," McGonagall answered with a hesitant frown on her face before she took another sip of tea while Tonks smiled happily at the thought and nodded her head in agreement.

"I don't like lying to my sun Albus, not about something as important as this," Molly Weasley stated with a frustrated but allied frown on her face as she glared at Dumbledore for a few seconds before making herself busy in preparation for supper.

"Neither do I Molly, but it's necessary until they realize and admit their feelings for each other," Dumbledore stated with a tired sigh before he shuffled over to the kitchen table and sat down beside McGonagall.

Hermione woke with a start. Her head swam in pain and the contents of her stomach seemed fully prepared to revolt and force their way back up her esophagus. Forcing herself to lie back down Hermione tilted her head to one side and opened her eyes just enough to peek out at her surroundings, recognizing them almost instantly. She would have recognized the bright orange walls and obscene amount of posters for the Chudley Cannons in her sleep. There was no doubt in her mind that she was laying in the bedroom of one of her two best friends, Ronald Weasley. Furiously Hermione began to wrack her brain for a rhyme or reason as to why she'd be waking up in Ron's room with her head feeling as if it were about to explode. She gritted her teeth and steeled her nerves against the pain as she slowly and cautiously raised herself up to a seated position and looked around the room. Harry lay curled up in a ball on the cot on the far side of the room, looking to be sleeping peacefully but still appearing to be shivering slightly. Hermione's heart went out to Harry in that moment, the hope of the world against he who must not be named, shivering like a small child, all alone in the world. Nearly crying at the thought Hermione turned her head the other way and couldn't help but smile at first at the sight of arguably her best friend, sprawled out across his bed as if, like many items of clothing and furniture, had become awkwardly to small for him. Her mirth however only lasted for a few seconds before her eyes caught sight of something that caused her breath to catch in her throat and her heart to nearly flat line. Tears formed in her eyes as her gaze landed on his heavily wrapped hands that looked so tightly wrapped that he probably could barely move them, followed closely behind by his overly bandaged knee and lower leg. A less than happy memory piped up at that particular moment, one of during their third year at Hogwarts when Sirius Black, in his animal form, had dragged Ron across the ground before down deep into the earth, breaking his leg in the process. Hermione could still remember the sickening sound that his leg has made as it had broken. The sound still haunted her dreams every time that she and Ron would have a particularly heated row, almost as if it were a bit of her conscience trying to remind her the amount of love that she felt for her redheaded friend. She could remember Ron stumbling madly towards her through the rain, trying desperately to push her way from the effects of the killing curse that Lucius Malfoy was screeching at them, but after that her memory quickly and surprisingly came up blank.

"R…Ron…," Hermione mumbled softly with a pained grimace on her face as she slowly slid out of bed and was fortunate that she had strength enough to be able to make her way over to Ron's bed. At her words Ron stirred a bit but did not wake up. From her vantage point at the foot of his bed Hermione caught a glimpse of the cut above his left eye that she herself had caused in a moment of anger. Even though a bit of herself felt fully justified for giving him that the cut that had turned into that scar there was an equal portion of herself that felt as if she could never apologize enough or possibly hope to ever make it up to Ron. "Ron…come on, wake up," Hermione said again, this time a bit louder as she crept up his bed and poked him in the stomach, but still he only stirred minutely before returning to his deep slumber. Torn between feeling as if she were about ready to throw up, whether from her nerves at the moment from being so close to Ron or her worry about how badly he was hurt, and feeling elated that he still lived and from her fragmented memory had put his life on the line to try and save hers. Finally she threw caution to the wind and shook Ron with all of her might, shouting his name as loudly as she could without being overheard downstairs. After a few nearly breathless moments Ron's eyes finally flickered open.

"Wha…H…Mione, what are you…," Ron asked in a soft mumble as it took his eyes a few moments to focus and lock onto the form of one of his two best friends standing over him, looking much the worse for wear and terribly concerned and worried about something or someone.

"Thank Merlin…," Hermione muttered softly under her breath with a greatly relieved and exhausted expression on her face before her legs became a bit weary and she allowed herself to sit down on the side of the bed beside Ron, who still almost half asleep scooted over a bit.

"What happened," Ron asked with still a very sleepy look on his face as he half sat up in bed and ruffled his hair in such a way that got a blush and a half smile from Hermione before she realized what she was doing.

"I'm not sure…exactly, what's the last thing that you remember," Hermione asked softly, with a somewhat confused expression on her face, as she sat still as Ron cautiously brought his injured leg up closer to his body and in doing so shifted his seat a bit closer to Hermione.

"Uh…I remember talking to Harry in the rain…then that bastard Malfoy showed up and we ran…," Ron replied with a deep in thought frown on his face as he absentmindedly began to scratch at a small hole in his bedspread with his pinky.

"And the two of you almost bowled me over when you burst out of the forest, Malfoy and his goons were hot on your heels…," Hermione added with a serious look of thought on her face as she shifted in her spot on the bed and bent her knee so that one leg was now dangling over the edge of Ron's bed with the other bent on the bed with the toes of her left foot dangling over the edge.

"And we ran into you…and then Malfoy he…he…oh no," Ron mumbled softly in accordance with the running memory shared between the two as he tore his gaze up off of the bedspread and cast it directly at Hermione's face, which was currently staring straight back at him with a worried look on her face. Hermione tried to find the words to speak but she could only manage a barely audible squeak before she averted her eyes to one of the posters that covered Ron's walls, busying herself watching a particularly fat Chaser try in vain to catch an old quaffle. Hermione then swallowed hard and spoke.

"Malfoy…he, cast a killing curse at you but then I…I mean you, oh bloody hell I'm not sure what happened next exactly," Hermione began, softly at first as she continued to stare at the poster on the wall, before she heard Ron's sharp intake of breath and hitch in his breathing as the fact that she had cursed registered in his mind.

"Hermione…you, you cursed," Ron exclaimed with such a shocked and surprised look on his face that Hermione had to steel her resolve and almost bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing at.

"So what…I'm allowed to, I've built up enough credit from you cursing left and right over the years so don't worry about me Ronald Weasley…but we, you and I…should be dead right, I mean Lucius Malfoy hit us both with a killing curse, but yet here we are, it just doesn't make sense," Hermione said as she continued dissecting the events of the previous hours, hoping that as she said them aloud she'd notice something out of place in her narrative and be then able to pinpoint the problem and correct it.

"Yeah…here we are…are you okay, Hermione…," Ron mumbled awkwardly at first before his tone became gravely serious and more than a bit worried as he reached out and laid a bandaged hand on Hermione's shoulder, sending a warm shiver throughout her body.

"Me…of course Ron, I'm fine," Hermione lied poorly with a weak smile on her face as she tried to put on a brave face in front of the man that she loved while Ron fully sat up and looked her up and down before putting in his two cents.

"No you're not…you're lying, you always chew on your bottom lip when you lie," Ron stated in a half whisper with a deadly serious and somewhat gaunt expression on his face that made Hermione instantly abandon any thought of averting her gaze.

"I do not chew on my bottom lip," Hermione responded with a weak glare of defiance before in the back of her mind she took note of the fact that somehow during their short discussion they two old friends' faces were now mere centimeters apart, with their noses terribly close to touching.

"Yes you do Mione, just like how you…," Ron started to whisper with a very sincere and sweet edge to his voice before fate pounced into the drivers seat and took over as their faces inched a bit closer and their lips finally met.

"What news Minerva," Dumbledore asked softly with a very interested twinkle in his eye as he cast a few sparks out of the end of his wand into the dying fire.

"I believe that we will not have to keep our secret long Albus," McGonagall replied with a deep sigh after transfiguring back to her human form from her feline form and taking the cup of tea that Lupin held out to her.

"Then they, Ron and Hermione…," Ginny interjected with a sleepy and dreamy smile on her face before she yawned deeply.

"Young lady, it is not appropriate to openly discuss such matters," McGonagall replied sharply with a very disapproving scowl on her face as she shot Ginny one of her usual glares before taking a small sip of her tea.

"Hey now Professor, you didn't need to be so harsh on her, she's just worried about her brother and best friend," Tonks piped up with a defensive and protective frown on her face as her hair was now a bright white and stuck up in seemingly a thousand little spikes all over her head.

"Well then she should be…," McGonagall began with a not very amused scowl on her face as she turned and glared over at Tonks before Lupin stepped in.

"She should probably be quiet but then she wouldn't be the annoying ball of energy that we all know and love would she," Lupin interjected with a half sarcastic and half joking smirk on his face as he stepped in between the two women, breaking their line of sight.

"I think that it would be best if anyone who's last name is not Weasley, Potter, or Granger to go on home until the children have had a good night's sleep," Mr. Weasley stated with a tired yawn as he stepped into the living room and looked around at everyone still there. Hagrid had been summoned back to Hogwarts to see to the care of one of the animals that he would be teaching the students about in the upcoming year.

"I believe that Arthur is right, there is nothing more that we can do for Harry and the others tonight, our efforts are better spent making sure that such an attack as took place today never happens again," Dumbledore announced with a tired and weary tone to his voice as he slowly stood up, receiving in the process more than one concerned look, before he set his cup of tea down on and open spot on the mantle.

"Do we have to go, I'd really rather stay here sir," Tonks asked with a nervous and slightly scared look on her face as she gazed up at a man that she held a great amount of respect for and seriously hoped that he would not deny her request. Everyone in the living room remained silent for a few fleeting moments before Dumbledore slowly nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know about this Albus, are you sure that this is a wise move," McGonagall asked with an unsure frown on her face as she walked over to Dumbledore and looked almost a bit scared at the idea.

"It might be a good idea to leave someone here, just for safety's sake…we could trade off every few days, only until school starts," Lupin interjected with a slightly nervous look on his face, as he slowly looked around the room before coming up with the last bit on the spot after the look of disapproval that McGonagall cast his way.

"But why not just send the children to Hogwarts early, surely they would be safer there, and if Voldemort is so interested in them I doubt that he would let a few charms and…," McGonagall began with a pleading expression on her face as she turned to Molly looking for aid.

"Wait a bloody minute…I know what this is all about," Tonks exclaimed with an angry and frustrated pout on her face as she jumped up out of her seat and glared at McGonagall.

"Excuse me…what is what all about…," McGonagall asked with a confused and startled look on her face as she brought a clenched hand to her chest and took an abrupt step back.

"The reason that you don't like this idea isn't because you're against the idea…is because I'm the one that thought of it," Tonks cried with a very proud and combative smile on her face as she stomped up to McGonagall and looked about ready to let out a laugh in the older woman's face when everyone was interrupted by a voice from the stairs.

"What's going on," A very sleep Harry asked through a wide yawn as he trudged down the steps and finally came to a stop on the living room floor, looking still half asleep his eyes were half closed and his glasses were askew on his face.

"Harry…," Lupin exclaimed with an overly happy and excited smile on his face as he rushed over and threw an arm around Harry before leading the stunned young wizard over to a seat on the couch by the fire.

"That's my name…," Harry mumbled sleepily with another wide yawn as Ginny quickly sat up and scooted out of his way with an embarrassed smirk on her face.

"How do you feel," McGonagall asked softly, the concern clearly evident in her voice, as she stepped away from a silent Tonks and stopped in the center of the rug in front of the couch.

"Like I was trampled by a hippogriff…but other than that I'm okay," Harry replied with at first a somewhat serious and somber frown on his face before Ginny giggled as she was the first to catch the faintest traces of a smile as it began to curl up the edges of Harry's mouth.

"Now's not the time to make jokes Harry, you were nearly killed today…," Molly shouted with a very worried and impatient look on her face as she hurried forward and handed Harry a steaming hot cup of tea.

"Not really mum…," Ron interrupted with a weak and weary look on his face and tone to his voice as he limped down the stairs, helped greatly by Hermione as she had one arm wrapped around Ron's waist and the other was holding one of Ron's arms around her shoulders in an attempt to balance his weight.

"Harry wasn't their target," Hermione added with a flushed face reddened by the effort of helping the much taller Ron down the stairs before Tonks and Lupin rushed forward and relieved Hermione of her duty.

"Why do you think that Ms. Granger," Dumbledore asked softly, not moving from his spot near the fireplace, as Lupin and Tonks hurried Ron over to the couch and after catching a quick glance from Ginny Tonks steered Ron to a spot on the side of Harry opposite of Ron's baby sister.

"Because…when Lucius Malfoy cast the killing curse he wasn't aiming at Harry, he was aiming at me and Ron…," Hermione answered softly with a slightly unsure look on her face as she slowly and nervously makes her way towards the couch, finally finding a seat in between Ron and Harry.

"But yet the two of your are still with us…," Dumbledore stated with a happy smile on his face and a wink at Ron and Hermione, who gave each other confused looks before Tonks couldn't help but chime in.

"You two figured out why yet," She added with a very cheesy and almost stupid grin on her face as Ron and Hermione could only sit and stare at her in total confusion, harboring no idea what she meant.

END OF CHAPTER 4


	5. Something Long Overdue

**SERENDIPITY**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the new ones that I created.**

**Author's Note: I'll be getting everyone to Hogwarts pretty soon, but I felt that there were a few plot points that had to happen before that happened. So read and enjoy, and remember reviews are greatly appreciated.**

**CHAPTER 5-SOMETHING LONG OVERDUE**

"Do either or you have any idea what they were up to," Harry asked softly before yawning deeply as he pushed the door to Ron's room open with his foot and carefully helped Hermione aid Ron in his journey back to his bed.

"Not a bloody clue, although I think Ginny winked at me a couple of times, hell if I know what it means…," Ron mumbled with a tired look on his face as Harry and Hermione lightly set him back down onto the bed before Hermione straightened up and put in her two cents.

"You shouldn't swear Ronald, it's not polite," Hermione added with an impatient and disapproving pout on her face, one that made Harry fall back onto Ron's bed and roll his eyes while sighing deeply. But to Ron the pout on her face made him want to do something far different. At that particular moment in time all that he wanted to do is resume kissing his bushy haired best friend.

"Sorry Mione," Ron said softly with a sincere half smirk on his face as he gave up arguing and relented before awkwardly trying to lie back onto the bed beside Harry.

"You're forgiven," Hermione replied with a slight shrug of her shoulders before she walked around the edge of Ron's bed and sat down on the edge of the pillow and bending her right leg under her so that Ron's temple nearly brushed up against it.

"That was a little quick Hermione, you forgiving Ron," Harry observed with a deep yawn as he closed his eyes and tried to get comfortable.

"Give it a rest okay Harry, I'm to tired to start anything," Ron mumbled sleepily with an uncomfortable frown on his face as he stretched his neck in an attempt to relieve the stiffness that had come up after lying down. After his early attempt didn't work Ron clumsily began to try to rub the stiffness out of his by bringing his left hand up towards his neck, but the bandages did nothing more than irritate his skin.

"Me to Harry, besides we should be worrying about what three Death Eaters were doing so close to the Burrow, I highly doubt that they were just on a stroll and decided to stop by because they were in the neighborhood," Hermione stated with a slightly confused frown on her face as she leaned forward a bit.

"Hermione's right Harry, Voldemort must be getting pretty desperate…," Ron began to say with a worried and uncomfortable scowl on his face as he started to shift in his position on the bed before he calmed instantly at the cool touch of Hermione's fingers on his neck. His breath hitched a bit at her touch but didn't continue as her fingers slowly began to massage the area of his neck that was stiffest.

"I guess, but Ron…are you sure that you and your family weren't the target…," Harry questioned with an unsure frown on his face as he kept his eyes closed even though secretly he wondered why Ron had been silenced so suddenly.

"If Ron and his family were the targets then why didn't Lucius Malfoy and the other two Death Eaters just apparate into the living room after we all went to bed," Hermione interjected with a very worried look of fear on her face as she stopped rubbing Ron's neck.

"Hell if I know," Ron mumbled through a deep yawn before he cracked an eye open and stared back and up at Hermione.

"Ron," Hermione exclaimed with an angry look on her face as she pulled her hand back form his neck and shoved him hard in the shoulder.

"Sorry Mione," Ron replied with a nervous smile on his face as Hermione was still scowling at him until his ears flushed a deep red.

"It was probably me…Voldemort wants me dead so badly that he's going to extremes," Harry stated glumly before he got up off of the bed and walked over towards the window. Hermione and Ron stared first sadly at Harry's back for a bit before their gazes met. Ron would have stayed like this forever expect for Hermione's sudden change of countenance from concerned to commanding as she silently motioned with a quick nod of her head and wide eyes toward Harry.

"Fine….," Ron mumbled harshly under his breath, sending Hermione a dirty look, before he reluctantly pulled himself up out of bed and staggered towards the window, with Hermione's worried gaze never leaving him.

"I know what you're going to say Ron so you can save it, I don't want to hear it," Harry interjected with a serious and somewhat angry frown on his face as he held a hand back up and over his shoulder, motioning for Ron to keep his distance.

"Hear what…that's not," Ron began with a dumbfounded and scared expression on his face before Harry cut him off.

"You were going to say that it's not all my fault, that the only reason that Neville's parents…that Sirius…that all of you have suffered is not because I was able to survive Voldemort using the killing curse on me when I was a baby…," Harry exclaimed with a very unhappy and bitter tone to his voice before he leaned forward and pressed his forehead up against the dirty windowpane.

"You're wrong Harry, that's not what I was going to say at all…," Ron stated quickly, his face fully red, before he was able to calm his nerves before Harry snapped his head around to stare oddly at his best friend.

"It wasn't…," Harry asked softly, with Hermione almost not being able to hear him, before Ron thought about quickly looking to Hermione for an idea but stopped when a thought popped into his head.

"Nope, not even close…what I was going to say is that I don't care if you are my best mate, you still can't throw a quaffle to save your life…," Ron said with a slowly growing level of enthusiasm before Harry stared at him oddly for a second before turning awhile while Hermione only rolled her eyes and flopped down onto Ron's bed with a pronounced sigh.

Ginny was roused the next morning by the inviting smell of bacon, eggs, toast, and rolls. She picked her head up off of the couch's armrest and rubbed her weary eyes before her vision cleared enough so that she could make out Tonks, decked out in a bright orange do, excitedly trying to explain something to a sleepy eyed Hermione, who didn't look the least bit interested in divulging anything other than the fact that she was still tired. For a moment or two Ginny fully debated whether or not to get up, but that decision was made for her when a bleary eyed Harry stumbled down the steps, leaning heavily on the wall to keep himself upright.

"Good morning Harry, sleep well," Molly asked with a pleased smile on her face as she wiped her hands on her apron before she piled the eggs and bacon onto a plate and set it down at the empty seat next to Tonks.

"Not sure…," Harry replied glumly with a deep yawn before he nearly collapsed into the empty seat and stared at his plate, hoping that he would soon become hungry.

"Well I'm sure that a big breakfast will cheer you up, dig in," Molly continued without missing a beat as the broad smile that she had been wearing when Harry had first come downstairs stayed firmly fixed upon her face.

"Harry…where's Ron," Hermione whispered softly under her breath, not wanting to draw to much attention to herself, as she leaned over slightly towards Harry and tried her best not to yawn.

"Upstairs…said he wasn't very hungry," Harry timidly replied with a somewhat worried look on his face as he silently rejoiced that neither Tonks nor Ginny nor Molly had seemed to have heard him answer. Harry turned back to his plate at just the right time to miss the look that passed across Hermione's face. Hermione knew Ron well enough to know that he never, ever, passed up a meal. Even during one of the various times that he had been hurt since his first day at Hogwarts Ron's appetite had never been dulled. The fact now that Ron had waved off breakfast, saying that he wasn't hungry, brought such a chill of fear and worry about Hermione that she failed to reply when Tonks briefly inquired where she was going as she got up and walked towards the stairs. Ignoring the growling in her own stomach Hermione made quick work of the stairs and lightly pushed the door to Ron's room open, revealing a shirtless Ron lying on his side on his bed, staring sadly at the scars on his arms.

"Ron…," Hermione asked with a scared and very worried look on her face as she slowly pushed the door fully opened and stepped into the room, glad that she had yet to put her shoes on so that no more sound was created that she wanted.

"Go away Mione," Ron grumbled with a very unhappy look on his face as he kept his gaze fixed straight ahead and hoped that she'd take the hint and leave.

"No," Hermione stated with a very clear and unalterable tone of voice as she then shut the door behind her and locked it, dropping the key into one of her pockets.

"Why not," Ron asked, more on impulse than from thought, before he rolled over and saw the very determined look on Hermione's face.

"Because Harry said that you weren't hungry, and for as long as I've known you Ronald Weasley I've never once known you to not be hungry for a meal…," Hermione replied softly, trying her best to sound as if she could care less about Ron's feelings, as she softly walked over to the side of the bed.

"So, there's a first time for everything right…," Ron shot back with an angry glare sent Hermione's way, a glare that she knocked away with a carefree wave of her hand.

"But not with you Ron, and not about this…what's really bothering you, and for your information I'm not leaving until I get the truth, the whole truth," Hermione retorted with a firm frown on her face as she lightly sat down on the edge of the bed, taking it as a good sign that Ron stayed where he was and didn't instantly try to get away.

"I don't want to talk about it," Ron mumbled with a tired and sad expression on his face before Hermione inched a bit closer to him so that she could see his face, rather than having to talk to the back of his head.

"Well sorry but you no longer have that choice, is this about her…about Fleur," Hermione stated at first with a lot of confidence before she spoke the name of the one woman that Hermione felt was her only competition for Ron's heart, mind, and soul. To Hermione Fleur was everything that she wasn't, tall and slender, her grace being something of many a tale, her beauty enough to cause grown men to drool despite themselves whenever she'd bat an eye. Hermione thought of herself as an ugly wart beside the lithe Fleur. She had hoped endlessly, ever since first hearing that Fleur had taken up with Ron's older brother Bill, that the two would end up happily married, thus keeping Fleur far enough away from Ron that Hermione could have him all to herself. However ever since learning of the dissolution of the coupling of Bill and Fleur Hermione's stomach had been in knots. Her worst fears had been confirmed upon discovering that Ron and Fleur had spent the entire summer together, doing things together that Hermione could not bring herself to imagine. But the half veela young woman had left only minutes before Hermione had arrived and after their horrifying ordeal at the hands of one Lucius Malfoy they had finally shared their first kiss. The thought of the kiss kept running began to run through Hermione's mind but was rather rudely interrupted by Ron's voice.

"What…no, this isn't about Fleur Delacour, it never was…it's always been about you…," Ron interrupted with a slightly scathing and angry sneer on his face as he wheeled around to glare up at Hermione, who in jumping back away from Ron's sudden movement very nearly fell off the other side of the bed.

"Me Ron, but…," Hermione questioned with a stunned and surprised look on her face as she slowly crept back away from the edge of the bed, trying to calm her suddenly frayed nerves in the process.

"Yes you Hermione, do you know why I always got so mad when you wrote to Viktor," Ron asked with a very nervous frown on his face as while trying to fully understand the question Hermione realized that Ron had, for possibly the first time since the Triwizard tournament, spoken the full name of the Bulgarian seeker instead of using the nickname that he had come up for his rival, Vicky.

"No…I always thought that you got mad because you either didn't like me or was just being rude and insensitive…," Hermione answered, nearly in a whisper, as she struggled to keep from tearing up.

"Bloody hell Hermione that's not…I always got mad because I was jealous of him, insanely jealous…," Ron exclaimed back in reply with a growing look of anger on his face before he sat up and looked Hermione straight in the eye.

"Jealous…but why, you didn't have anything to be jealous of…Viktor and I were…are, just friends…," Hermione stammered out in a stunned voice as her mind reeled in an attempt to figure out the full meaning behind what Ron was telling her.

"Just friends…right, you mean just like you and I are friends…," Ron joked with a distasteful scowl on his face, looking as if the words were a poison upon his lips, before he looked away.

"I thought that we were more than that…you and I…," Hermione answered in a soft whisper as her battle against the tears ended and a lone pair trickled down her cheeks.

"We are more than friends Mione…much more, or so I thought, but when you went to Bulgaria to see that…to see Viktor, and I started to get those bloody letters of yours, going on and on about how much fun you were having with him I…I couldn't take it any longer…then Fleur showed up on my doorstep…she was in so much pain, my heart broke seeing her like that…I could see it in her eyes…one thing led to another…I never meant for it to happen, but it did, and I wouldn't take any of it back if I could…but…," Ron continued with although a nervous and terrified feeling in the pit of his stomach, feeling that Hermione would either never speak to him again after hearing his abbreviated explanation or simply slap him and walk away or both, he knew that he had to tell her everything.

"But…but what Ron…are you upset because Harry and I found out about what the two of you did this summer or…," Hermione asked as she charged headlong into her question, crossing her arms and fixing her steely eyed gaze at Ron, expecting him to squirm.

"No Hermione, I'm upset because in the end…after all of this, we're…you and I, we're still just friends…that's what made Fleur and I so easy…it was just so easy to be with her…," Ron added with an almost somber frown on his face as he turned his head away and stared out of the window that only two days before had filtered light into the room on a pair of young lovers. Now it filtered light into the room onto a pair of friends that were either on the verge of becoming something much more or nothing at all.

"Easy…it was easy to be with her, I don't believe this…I bet that it was easy because she didn't say no," Hermione dared with an envious and bitter frown on her face as her tears dried up and she glared over at Ron.

"No Hermione, that wasn't the reason at all, you wouldn't understand," Ron replied quickly with a very hurt but yet sincere expression on his face as he gazed at Hermione out of the corner of his eye.

"What wouldn't I understand…what made you and Fleur so easy to be together, just tell me Ron," Hermione stated with an almost McGonagall tone of voice, one that made Ron fully turn his head back to look at her in the eye for a moment before turning away and hanging his head.

"Because I haven't been in love with her since I woke up in the infirmary after getting knocked out by a giant chess piece and saw how scared she was that I wouldn't wake up…and how elated that she was that I woke up that she nearly crushed me in that hug," Ron answered with a curious amount of courage as he slid his gaze back to Hermione and stared her straight in the face as he told her everything.

"Oi…those two have sure been up there awhile, you think that I should just pop up there and make sure that they're not casting hexes or worse at each other," Tonks asked with a bored frown on her face as she leaned heavily up against the wall nearest to the stairs, settling her gaze up the stairway.

"I don't think that's what they need Tonks," Harry replied in between bites of his food while Ginny quietly sipped her glass of pumpkin juice.

"But shouldn't we…I don't know, help them," Tonks continued with an odd sense of urgency on her face before she pushed away from the wall and looked pleadingly at first Harry and then at Ginny.

"You know Ms. Tonks…for someone that we have known for a short time compared to the amount of time that we have know Harry and Hermione you seem quite interested in my son," Molly said with a slightly accusing edge to her voice as she untied the strings of her apron and laid it on the counter before taking a seat at the table next to Ginny.

"Hey now…don't go and getting any crazy ideas about, call me nosy if you want but I'm only worried about Ron and Hermione because I know what it's like to have feelings for someone that are so strong that you feel that if you say something it'll ruin your friendship with them, but staying silent is torture," Tonks replied with a very sad and regretful look on her face before she only glanced up in the direction of those seated at the table.

"Tonks…are you…in love…with…," Harry stammered out with a very awkward and nervous tone of voice as he was having trouble in his attempts to put everything that Tonks had said and everything that she had meant into order.

"In love with Ron…sorry Harry, wrong brother…," Tonks replied with a sheepish grin on her face before she realized what she had said and her face turned a shade far deeper of red than any jumper that Molly had ever knitted.

END OF CHAPTER 5


	6. A New Journey's Beginning

**SERENDIPITY**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.**

**CHAPTER 6-A NEW JOURNEY'S BEGINNING**

Ron sat as silent as a stone for what seemed like an eternity, staring sadly at his bright orange bedspread before he felt the weight on the bed shift, meaning that Hermione had slid closer to him. He wanted more than anything to lift his head up just enough to see the look on her face, but his nerves and fears kept him from doing so. He had thought that after he had told her the truth about how he had felt about her when compared to Fleur that Hermione would have either hauled off and slapped him hard across the face before leaving forever or begun to snog him instantly. But since neither had happened Ron couldn't bring himself to look up, no matter the outcome.

Hermione had worked over what Ron had said in her mind nearly a thousand times before she had made her move. In her head she was still very angry at Ron for having anything to do with Fleur, but his words, and the look of total honesty in his eyes when he had said them, combined for an extremely powerful effect on her heart. Every second until she took her next action was a war of wills between her head and her heart, in the end though she decided that there was no war, no discussion, no debate.

"Ron…," Hermione whispered softly, desperately trying to hold back unshed tears and keep the sobs of relief down to a minimum, as she reached out and laid a hand gently on Ron's knee. She took is as a good sign that he didn't cringe or pull away at her touch. His only response was to weakly shake his head and mumble something incoherently as he looked away. "Please Ron…look at me," Hermione begged and pleaded with a very sincere and heartfelt look in her eyes, a sight that Ron saw as he begrudgingly lifted his head up just enough to get a glimpse before quickly pulling his chin back down. He would have stayed that way, not looking at her in the least, had she not placed a trembling couple of fingers underneath his chin and started to lift up. "Ron…there's something that I need to say to you, something that I should have said a very long time ago…," Hermione stated in one breath before she felt like her heart was about to burst from how hard it was hammering in her chest, making her scar hurt just a bit but she pushed aside the pain.

"Let me guess…you're disappointed in me and I'm…," Ron began with a defeated tone of voice and glint in his eyes as his shoulders slouched noticeably before Hermione took her other hand from Ron's knee and brushed the hair off of his face, pinning it behind his ears.

"The boy…no scratch that, the man that I love…the man that stood up for me against Malfoy in second year and never asked for a thank you, the man in third year that was ready to die before he'd let anything happen to me, the man who in fourth year…well the man in fifth year who…," Hermione countered softly, with tears in her eyes, as she let out the melody entrapped within her heart from the moment of realization that she was in love with Ron, a moment that she knew had occurred sometime in either first or second year. A moment that up until this very moment she had tried her best to explain away as being nothing more than a passing fancy. But no matter how hard she had tried she had failed miserably.

"Y…you…," Ron stuttered out, not completely believing what his ears were telling him as his left hand somehow found its way to Hermione's ankle, softly running his thumb up and down the back of her ankle.

"That's right Ron, I love you…," Hermione added with a convincing and very certain tone to her voice as she leaned forward again, this time coming so far forward that the ends of their noses were touching. Throwing caution, and possibly his pride as well, to the wind Ron seized upon the moment, tilted his head to one side and pressed his lips against hers. Hermione let the initial shock subside before she unintentionally let out a small moan of pleasure and deepened the kiss. Suddenly Ron pulled away and stared back down at the comforter.

"I…I'm sorry Mione…I…shouldn't have done that I…," Ron mumbled out with a look of shame on his face as his ears burned brighter than the sun for a moment, before he lifted his head back up and noticed tears in her eyes, tears that mirrored those in his own eyes.

"Yes you should have…," Hermione managed to get out, with a half devilish smile on her face, before she acted impulsively for possibly the first time in her life, and tackled Ron off of his bed, assaulting him with the most passionate kiss that she could muster up in the process. Outside in the hallway all Ginny could hear was a loud thud and some giggling before she shrugged her shoulders and continued on her way towards the stairs.

"I'm sorry Tonks, but you're not going to leave without telling me," Harry stated firmly as he put his hands on his waist and smirked across the garden at a very nervous Tonks, who kept diving after one gnome or another, even if there truly wasn't one there to keep from answering Harry.

"There's nothing to talk about Harry, I simply…misspoke…," Tonks finally replied with a nervous little smile on her face before she lunged for another gnome.

"Oh really…so which one of Ron's brothers are you in love with again…," Harry replied with a rather smug smirk on his face, one that he couldn't keep for long before he broke out into a rather loud fit of laughter, doubling over after a few moments.

"Shut up Harry," Ginny growled in mock anger before a wildly screaming gnome was sent zipping by Harry's ear, coming close enough to ruffle his hair up just enough to unveil the trademark lightning shaped scar on his forehead.

"Hey, that almost hit me…," Harry protested with a restrained smirk on his face as he took a step behind Ginny, keeping her in between himself and the still upset Tonks, another gnome in her hand, struggling violently to get free.

"That's the idea Harry," Tonks shot back through a wicked grin as she slowly stood up and began to circle around Ginny, who was being repositioned by Harry as he had grabbed her arms and was manually shifting her position.

"Harry…let go of me, I'm not a bloody shield…Harry," Ginny shouted with at first a small smirk on her face before her tone changed to one of anger and frustration at Harry not letting go.

"Fine Ginny…," Harry whispered into her softly with a mischievous smile on his face and edge to his voice, one such that caused Ginny's heart to flutter and her head to begin to spin wildly at trying to figure out what his words meant. Her internal debate was short lived however.

"Harry…," Ginny screamed very loudly as Harry got a good hold of her arms and shoved her into Tonks, the two women went down in a hail of robes and curses and one Harry Potter, who nearly doubled over with laughter as he tore off back for the burrow's front door.

She lay there, wrapped in his arms, and wondered how things had progressed so far so fast. When she had entered the room nearly two hours earlier she hadn't expected to find herself in her current position. Ron was fast asleep beside her, his clothes scattered on either side of his bed, with some of them landing on top of the cot that served as Harry's bed during his time spent at the burrow. Hermione's clothes were not far removed from Ron's as she sadly noted with a quick check around the room by lifting her head up off of Ron's shoulder and then putting it back down. She had intended to cheer her best friend up out of his doldrums, not lose her virginity in the process. But the latter had happened and the two were lying as close together as two people could. It had all happened in what felt like a second to Hermione, one moment she had been comforting Ron and the next minute she had been throwing herself at him and snogging him senseless, ripping at his clothes as she went. Her clothes had quickly followed suit and before they had crossed the line of no return he had stopped suddenly and gazed deeply into her eyes, silently asking for permission to proceed. Her head had been undecided but her heart had done the thinking for her and she had answered with her eyes.

Now she had put herself into a situation that she had never been in before, and because of that did not know how to proceed. If she were to wake Ron up he might want to continue where they left off and at that moment Hermione wasn't sure if that was what she wanted. On the other hand if Ron were to wake up and find her gone it could be possible that it would irrevocably scar his psyche, with him thinking that she had not enjoyed the experience or that he had done something wrong. That internal debate kept her there for nearly an hour before she reluctantly pulled away and crawled across the floor, searching for her clothes. She had found and slipped on both of her socks when Ron began to wake up, a content smile on his face. Hermione held her breath as she watched Ron sleepily paw around where she had been for a few moments before he seemingly realized that she was not there any longer.

"Mione…," Ron mumbled out softly with a sleepy drawl to his voice as he slowly lifted his head and took a quick glance around the room, his eyes half open. Immediately Hermione tried to scurry out of his line of sight by ducking behind his bed, but unintentionally she scraped her knee on a floorboard that had warped a bit and turned upwards, letting out a sharp yelp of pain. Instantly Ron clumsily crawled his way over to Hermione and laid a hand on her shoulder as she had grabbed her knee with both hands and tried to keep from tearing up.

"Ow…stupid bloody board," Hermione grumbled with a pained and unhappy scowl on her face as she rocked back and forth slightly for a moment or two before she seemed to notice Ron's hand on her bare shoulder and began to calm down. If only for an instant anyway before she realized her current state of nudity and hastily pulled back from Ron, reaching out and nervously clutching his blanket in front of her, her face redder than any of Ron's maroon jumpers.

"What…what's wrong Hermione," Ron asked, a bit amazed and surprised at her actions before he moved back and sat down at the foot of his bed, studying her intently.

"N…nothing, nothing's wrong Ron…uh could you maybe uh…," Hermione stammered out with a very embarrassed, but excited, smile on her face as she tried her very best to keep from staring at a certain part of Ron's anatomy no matter how much her gaze begged to return there again and again.

"It's me…isn't it, I did something wrong…I hurt you," Ron added glumly with a confused and worried pout on his face before his last three words were said in a barely audible whisper as he slowly began to yank on his underwear, turning his gaze away from Hermione as he did not want to see the look of guilt and regret that he thought was in her eyes.

"No…Ron, you didn't…I mean well you did but…," Hermione began in an almost frantic earnest before Ron pulled away again, this time getting up from the floor and flopping down onto Harry's cot, awkwardly pulling the well worn blanket that Harry used over himself and staring sadly at the wall. "Ron will you just listen to me, you didn't let me finish, what I was going to say was that you only hurt me…because it…because I…," Hermione fervently began with an almost frantic look on her face before the meaning of her words overtook her and she collapsed back down to the ground, leaning her back up against the foot of Ron's bed, pulling as much of the bed sheet around her as she could, all the while trying desperately not to break down in tears. After a few moments the tears began to come unheeded, as her willpower finally let go. Through the tears her breath caught in her throat at his at first feather light touch.

"Mione…," Ron mumbled out softly through a few sniffles as he tried to keep form crying in front of Hermione before she looked up, their eyes met, and she threw herself at him once more. But this time she only surged forward, wrapped her arms tightly around his midsection, and sobbed into his chest. They stayed like that for the rest of the morning, Ron comforting a tearful Hermione, before sleep once more overtook them both.

"So who do you reckon is our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Harry asked softly as he picked up his towel and proceeded to rub his head with it vigorously.

"I hope that you left some hot water Harry…," Ron groaned with an unhappy frown on his face as he pulled his shirt off and threw his towel over his shoulder.

"Whoever it is I hope that they're better than Umbridge," Ginny added with an unhappy pout on her face as she leaned back up against Ron's headboard and brushed some dirt off of her pants onto Ron's bedspread.

"Hey…what do you think you're doing," Ron roared with an angry scowl on his face as he reached out and grabbed a hold of Ginny's wrist just as she was about to brush some dirt off of her shoulder.

"It was dirty…hey leggo ya big oaf, that hurts," Ginny exclaimed with an equally angry scowl on her face as she glared up at her brother and tried to wrench her arm free, but he held her fast, refusing to let go even though a trickle of blood could be seen slipping from underneath the bandages.

"No…not until you get off of my bed and out of my room," Ron shot back with a confident and unwavering look on his face as he pulled a bit harder on his younger, and only, sisters arm, pulling her off of the bed even though his knee was killing him.

"I don't have to get out of your room if I don't want to…," Ginny protested with an annoyed and slightly pained grimace on her face as she tried yet again, unsuccessfully, to free her arm from Ron's grasp.

"Let her go Ron," Hermione said softly, not at all a picture of strength, as she slowly walked up behind Ron and laid a hand gently on his shoulder, her stomach a bit queasy at the sight of the trickle of blood on Ron's knuckles.

"Not until she gets out of my room and quits getting dirt everywhere," Ron exclaimed in defiance with a firm and impatient expression on his face before Harry caught Ron wincing slightly.

"She didn't mean it Ron…just let go of her arm and you can go and take your shower while the rest of us go downstairs and help your mother prepare lunch," Harry offered with a hopeful but tense smile on his face as he sincerely hoped that Ron would accept the offer and relinquish his hold on Ginny's arm.

"Ron…," Hermione whispered softly into Ron's ear with such a sense of pleading that Ron almost instantly let go of Ginny's arm, after taking a second or two to get over the shock of the tone of Hermione's voice.

"Finally…what in the bloody hell do you think that you were doing Ron, you could have hurt me…," Ginny shouted in full anger as she reared back to slug Ron in the shoulder, but Harry acted quickly enough and looped his arm in under hers and began to drag the youngest Weasley out of the room. "Harry…let go of me, Harry," Was all that Ginny could get out before Harry had successfully extricated her from Ron's room and had pushed her in front of him as the two started going down the stairs.

"You were too hard on her," Hermione offered weakly with a slightly queasy look on her face as she slowly sank down onto Ron's bed, staring sadly at the wall while Ron tried to let go of his anger.

"She should have known better Mione, she should have…," Ron began to continue to argue with a confidant expression on his face before he turned around and saw the look on Hermione's face.

"Yes Ron, she should have…but you overreacted in grabbing her arm," Hermione said as she lightly scolded him before she pulled her feet up onto Ron's bed and laid down on her side.

"Mione…what is it, what's wrong," Ron asked, suddenly growing ever more worried by the by second, as he painfully took a couple of steps forward and laid a hand on her hip.

"What are we going to do Ron, when your parents…my parents find out what we did they'll flip…," Hermione replied in a scared whisper, a tone of voice that chilled Ron through to the bone, a tone which guided his future course of action that entire day.

"Do we have to tell them," Ron offered weakly with a cheesy grin on his face as he slid slowly and painfully around the end of the bed, beginning to limp as he rounded the last corner.

"I'm not going to lie Ronald Weasley, not to my parents," Hermione quickly shot back with a hint of venom in her stare before she turned her head away and her eyes grew misty.

"You mean you won't lie to them like you have ever since you started going to Hogwarts," Ron said back, trying to keep his voice under control even though he was scared about the way Hermione was acting and his knee was really starting to hurt.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about," Hermione answered with a calm and very serious look on her face as she turned her gaze back and glared at Ron.

"Oh come off it Mione, are you telling me that you actually told your parents about the troll in first year, the basilisk in second year, the…," Ron came back with as he held a look of disbelief on his face before Hermione hung her head a bit and a few tears trickled down her cheeks and splashed silently onto Ron's bedspread. "I'm sorry Mione," Ron added very softly as he sat, nearly collapsed, down onto the bed and gently laid a hand on Hermione's shoulder, an act that seemed to calm her down just a little bit.

"I know, but they're all going to hate us…," Hermione weakly offered back as she sat up and interwove her fingers with Ron's as the two sat holding hands on Ron's bedspread.

"You don't believe for a second that they're actually going to hate us do you, sure my parents will probably be disappointed with me somewhat…but they won't hate you, my parents love you, hell Hermione they already think of you as a full blown Weasley, they could never hate you," Ron continued, doing his best to try to cheer Hermione up, with the words that were coming out of his mouth coming straight from his heart, with his head for once not interfering in the least.

"And even if something crazy happens Hermione you could always come and stay with me, my flats not big but we could manage," Tonks interjected with a kind but yet serious look on her face as she stood in the doorway, arms crossed, looking across the room at the two young lovers. Hermione sniffled and then started to reply but Molly's booming voice wafted up through the rafters, wondering why they were still in Ron's room.

"We should go, before mum gets the wrong idea," Ron stated with a soft smile on his face before he leaned in close, gave Hermione a gentle kiss on the lips, and then did his best to stand up and make his way towards the door, leaving Hermione to blush a bit, wipe away her tears, and follow along after him.

END OF CHAPTER 6


	7. Almost There

**SERENDIPITY**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.**

**CHAPTER 7-ALMOST THERE**

By the time that the day came to get their schoolbooks Ron's knee and arm were better and the limp was barely noticeable. Hermione hadn't stop apologizing every chance that she got when Ron's injuries had hindered him in a noticeable way. When a pitcher of pumpkin juice had slipped out of his hand and crashed to the floor, shattering pieces everywhere, Hermione hadn't scolded him. Instead she had simply repaired the pitcher with her wand and then sat back down as if nothing had happened. Ron and Hermione had only a few more nights together since that first day, and so far they had been able to keep their affairs secret. Harry had almost stumbled across them a few times but surprisingly Ginny had helped them out there. Of course she hadn't helped them out with the knowledge of what she was doing, merely that the times that she needed him just happened to fit in with Ron and Hermione's rendezvous'. There was several times that Mrs. Weasley or Ginny almost walked in on them but each time they had managed to spring apart and assume a studying appearance just in the nick of time. Keeping it a secret from Hermione Ron had written a few letters to Fleur but had gotten no response. Before she had left they had talked about their relationship and agreed that it was over once she left the Burrow. Though in truth Fleur had hoped that the break between them would only turn out to be a temporary one.

"Do you think that we'll be prefects again," Ron asked softly with a nervous half smile on his face as he sat down next to Hermione under one of the large trees next to the Burrow.

"I don't see why not, we did well enough last year that I don't know why Dumbledore would appoint anyone else," Hermione replied with a thoughtful pout on her face as she tried to both reassure Ron and herself that they would be prefects again.

"Well this years going to be different right," Ron asked with a still nervous frown on his face as he began to look like he was very worried about something, and it bothered Hermione to see him like this already.

"Meaning," Hermione asked with a worried look on her face and tone to her voice as she sat up a bit more and turned her head to look him straight in the face.

"Meaning that ole you know who isn't going to wait around forever, certainly not till Harry's finished his schooling and is ready for him, he's to smart for that, he'll attack when we least expect it," Ron answered with a very serious and almost impatient frown on his face as he nervously wrung his hands and stared out across the meadow.

"What does that have to do with us being prefects Ron," Hermione asked with a confused look on her face as she scooted a bit closer to him and laid her hand on his arm.

"If you and I are going with Harry…Merlin knows where…we can't exactly be effective prefects right," Ron stated back with a serious look on his face as he slid his fingers underneath the bottom edge of Hermione's shirt and lightly tickled her stomach, getting a soft chuckle out of her for his efforts.

"Which is more important Ron, we help Harry prepare for his battle with Voldemort or we're prefects again," Hermione asked softly with a quick tone to her voice as she was desperately trying not to think about Ron's hands going any further down her body than they actually were. While it was true that a large part of her wanted Ron's hands to move lower her rational mind knew that it couldn't happen, at least not until Harry and the others went to Diagon Alley to pick up their things for school. With the recent rash of attacks on muggles and other witches and wizards by death eaters Dumbledore had obliged them to only go out in pairs, and only when it was absolutely necessary. So Ginny and Harry had agreed to go first, though Hermione had guessed that Ginny had an ulterior motive with how quickly and eagerly she had agreed to go with Harry.

"Of course…helping Harry, I thought that you'd be the one that would need to be a prefect," Ron shot back with a slightly surprised expression on his face as he pulled his hands back out from under the edge of her shirt. She couldn't help but let out an unhappy groan before answering.

"I'm not saying that I don't want to be a prefect Ron, it's just that I'm not sure if we're going to be able to do both, we don't always get what we want," Hermione sadly answered as she shifted a bit in Ron's arms, further resting her head back on his shoulder.

"It's worked so far Mione," Ron softly cooed back into Hermione's ear with a playful snicker before he began to ever so gently trail a line of kisses from her exposed collarbone, due to the fact that she was wearing one of Ron's shirts where he had stretched out the neck, up towards her ear. Hermione bit down hard on her lip and hoped that it wouldn't start to bleed. It was all that Hermione could do to remain quiet and not make a noise that would either alert anyone else or give Ron the impression that she liked it and wanted him to continue. Her dirty little secret was that she did indeed want him to continue but the last time that she had gone to the top of the hill to look back towards the burrow everyone was still there.

"We…can't Ron…not until after Harry and Ginny leave for Diagon Alley," Hermione forced herself to say with an impatient and somber pout on her face as she finally got the strength to get her lips to work right.

"But," Ron began to protest with a hurt edge to his face as she stopped kissing her before she turned in his arms and placed a finger over his lips.

"We have to both be on the same page if we're going to help Harry fight Voldemort right, good, now whether or not we're prefects again is out of our control but I'm guessing that we both will be, so stop worrying about it so much, now don't give me that look Ronald Weasley, I know what you're thinking about, I want it just as badly as you do, but we can't do anything until," Hermione said back softly with a very honest and calm look on her face before Ron started to droop his head and give her a hurt look. She was just about to finish up her speech to him when he brushed her finger aside and pulled her into a kiss that drained all of her resolve. Neither noticed when Tonks came to tell them that Harry and Ginny were leaving. Smiling softly to herself after getting just enough of an eyeful of the two lovers to know that they weren't in the mood for talking Tonks turned on her heel and started back towards the burrow, humming a chipper tune to herself and smiling ear to ear.

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"Do you think anyone saw us," Ron asked with a nervous look on his face, with the sun setting in the distance, as he and Hermione hurriedly pulled their clothes back on and tried to make themselves look presentable.

"We'd better hope not, if your mother saw us we wouldn't live long enough to graduate from Hogwarts," Hermione replied with a cold shudder as she passively thought of Mrs. Weasley's reaction had she caught them.

"It's not her that I'm worried about…it's Fred and George, if they saw us we'd never hear the bloody end of it, they'd torture us with it, making sure to keep her out of the loop," Ron sadly pouted back as he quickly picked his shirt up off of the ground and pulled it back on, at first getting it backwards causing Hermione to laugh a little at him, before he realized it and turned it around. Hermione couldn't help but groan openly a small bit as she realized that Ron was right about his twin brothers. Once they got stuck on something to use to ride someone about it was nearly impossible to get them to stop it. Hermione had learned quickly to not give them anything with which to use.

"Don't worry, after tomorrow we'll be back at Hogwarts and Fred and George will be far away and out of our hair," Hermione said with a somewhat relieved half smile on her face as she straightened out her skirt and tried to make it look as if Ron hadn't nearly ripped it off of her.

"Let's hope so, if they catch wind of this it'll be all over the school faster than a snitch, and if that happens then I can kiss being head girl goodbye," Hermione pouted back with a nervous sigh as she tucked her shirt in as the two started to make their way up the hill towards the burrow.

"You'll always be my head girl," Ron said back with a sly and slightly dopey grin on his face before Hermione rolled her eyes and slugged him on the shoulder, but couldn't help but smile sweetly when he whirled back around to face her, a curious look on his face.

"Come off it Ron, I'm being serious here," Hermione finally added with a worried and nervous look on her face as she sped up a bit, grabbed him by the arm and started to pull if not drag him towards the burrow.

"So was I, there'll never be anyone else for me but you," Ron countered with a sincere look of honesty on his face as he stopped her from walking and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"But what about Fleur, what if she comes back and wants you back," Hermione asked with a visibly scared look on her face as she spoke the name of the one woman, the only woman, that she thought had a chance of stealing Ron away from her. Since Fleur's departure from the burrow her name had rarely come up, mostly only to answer Harry's questions about what had happened between her and Bill. Ron always denied that he had any idea why the two had so suddenly split up after everything had appeared to be going to so well. In truth she had finally told him that last morning that they lay together in bed, but he had sworn to her that he would never reveal it, and Ron was adamant about keeping his promises.

"I'll tell her that I'm sorry but I already have the one for me and that I hope that she is lucky enough to find someone like that for her," Ron whispered back softly to Hermione as he leaned down towards her before he captured her lips with his.

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France

She couldn't believe it, the test had to be wrong. She had been of more than a few minds of whether or not to even use the muggle way. But using any means of magic would be alerting her mother and others to the fact that things between her and Ron had gone much further than anyone could have guessed. She had sneaked out early that morning and apparated to the nearest muggle drug store. Being patient she had picked up the product and remembered to keep her gold in her pockets and pay with the muggle money that she had picked up along the way, hoping that it was still good. She had been forced to wait until after dinner that night before she had been able to take the test. A tear escaped her eye as more than what the test said she knew it in her heart. She was pregnant.

END OF CHAPTER 7

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for reading, I'm going to stop this story for right now unless people want me to continue it, I feel that the surprise that Fleur is pregnant is a good enough shocker to leave off with for the time being. If enough people want me to continue I will as it'll be a shock to Ron when he finds out, not to mention Hermione given the status of their relationship. Things could get very complicated. So thanks to everyone for reading and remember reviews are greatly appreciated.


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